Human Usury & the Divine Debt - between servitude and servanthood

Servitude or Servanthood?

Indebtedness to usurious men

Will imprison you forever 

In the chains of servitude.

Indebtedness to God and His Prophet

Will release you from your enslavement,

And bring you to the station of servanthood.

..............................

Human Usury. When I am a little (or a lot) late in paying my credit card bills, car instalments, phone bills, my daily life suddenly becomes stressful with the constant barrage of calls, emails, sms-es and legal notices, all of them making it plain that woeful consequences will befall me if I fail to regularise my account. This is the curse of the credit-driven consumer society that we live in now.

Divine Debt. God is so different though we are utterly indebted to Him for everything, He do not even ask to be repaid, for He knows very well that we cannot. All He asks is that we realise our indebtedness to Him, and that we use our heart and our mind to conjecture from there how best to live our life.

And this admission of indebtedness will make us rich beyond our imagination. 

Creation and all its contents cannot be weighed

Against the heart of a true believer

For he sees beyond his worldly needs,

Piercing the veil to see

The all-nourishing attribute

Of the Creator Almighty...

And on top of all these divine goodies, God the Giver is asking us to continue asking more and more from Him... His generosity is infinite and incomparable. 

If you are attending to matters of the Infinite,

You have to start loving infinitely.

Which brings us to our greatest debt to God... His Beloved, Nabi Muhammad (saws), the Mercy to all the Worlds and Nations. 

You don't remember asking God for the Prophet (saws)? You did, my friend, you certainly did - a long, long time ago, before your soul was ever dressed in your mortal coil, before any mountain grew from the earth, before any bird flew in the sky. 

wa min Allah at-taufiq

-Notrumi Embun, 4th August 2014

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way 

UBAT (THE MEDICINE) - the remedy for bad manners, life and prayers...

Ubat

Ubat biadab

Ikutlah adab si-Abdi

Ubat si-hidup 

Ada dengan pesakit atau si-mati.

Ubat si-peminta

Hanya pada Si-Pemberi,

Medicine

The cure for bad manners

Is to follow the good manners of the Servant,

The cure for those living

Is with the dead or dying,

The remedy for the one asking

Is with The Only One giving,

................

Ubat biadab, ikutlah adab si-Abdi. The remedy for bad manners, which accounts for all the ills and sorrow of humanity is through good manners. For good manners should be the basis of our interaction with the world, from the people that loves us and the enemy that hates us, to the animals that we keep or is wild. Adab (good manners) in Islam encompasses the natural environment that nourishes us, how we organise our community, how we trade and live as neighbours. The very best adab rules even how we deal with inanimate things like rocks and sand, water and air - for there is nothing in this world that is not sustained by Allah (swt) and recites His Names and His praises. From the deep space of stars, galaxies and constellations, deep into the inner space between atoms, molecules and electrons - they all remember His Name and His Glory!

And there is no servant more steeped in servanthood to God and His Creation than Nabi Muhammad (saws), the first servant and prophet.

"I was a Prophet when Adam was between clay and water"

Ubat si-hidup ada dengan pesakit atau si-mati. My late mother (may Allah Almighty bless her soul) always took the time to visit the sick and the dying. Many years ago, our loyal gardener, Mr. Menon was injured in an accident and broke his leg. "When I woke up in the hospital, the first and only person I saw when I opened my eyes was your mother." So he recalled one morning as we chatted about my late mum. For my mother it was no-big-deal. It is a given thing, a natural order and manner that if whomever we know is injured, ill or dying, we must visit them. I wish I had such discipline and natural instinct. Because visitations to cemeteries, hospitals and the sick bed reminds us of our own transient state of health. For all the bad manners from which all ills and sorrows of humanity originates cannot happen until a man or a woman forgets their condition of being in utter need, love and mercy of God the Most Compassionate and Most Merciful.

And boy, do we need all the reminders we can get. So when your conscience is pricked, go and do not hesitate. Go to your friend at his sick bed or at the cemetery. Sickness or death is no impediment to the love and adab you may find there.

Ubat si-peminta hanya pada si-Pemberi. Whatever goodness we receive comes from the Giver, a.k.a. God Almighty. Oh, He may pick and choose the timing, the person, the condition and the form through which a goodness is given, but undoubtedly, for all believers, it is He who is the one and the only one giving. So we thank God all the time, for our parents and our siblings, for our kin and our friends, for the hospital treatment, for the house we are living in, for the car we are driving, and for the infinitesimal atoms and sub-atomic particles that (temporarily) cloth our spirit.

So, whatever and whenever we are asking for... only He can gives. Don't you agree, sunshine? 

So do not be shy with your asking. Ask God for God!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

-Notrumi Embun, 26th June 2014

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way 

LEARNING FROM HAPPY DOGS - don't be a postman-chasing, vet-biting malevolent cur. Be a servant and be happy!

Let us be like happy dogs!

Human beings are more like dogs

Than some are willing to accept,

Just like dogs, we are happiest

When we have a master to serve.

...................

In one of James Herriot's dog stories, he recounts how, as a Yorkshire veterinarian he had to deal with a pair of small dogs owned by a couple. The problem is that the dogs are an absolute menace, out of control, bossy and always looking to give a nasty nip at the ankles or hands of unsuspecting postmen or veterinarians. 

While attending to them, the vet noticed how the husband and wife molly-coddled the two dogs in the most saccharine and sentimental manner. That is fine, but when the dogs misbehaved, they appear to take no notice and allowed the animals to think that they can misbehave and act as they please. So the dogs became the masters of the house. 

But just because the dogs ruled the home, it does not mean that they are happy, observed the good vet. In fact, these dogs were much more natural and happier when they first arrived in the household, but the 'tolerant' and 'openminded' nature of their owners turned them from nice, good dogs to malicious, postmen-chasing curs. 

We humans are like that, I think. We need some centre, some focus of service and duty to align our life to the best that we can be. And perhaps there is no more natural essence of a soul than to be a blessed servant of the Soul-maker, the Creator, a.k.a. God Almighty. That we might be of some service to mankind, to animals, and to all of Creation. But when we lose our  bearing, when we forget that we are meant to be servants and not bosses, we open humanity's door to oppression, tyranny, exploitation and violence. Just like those damn dogs. And just like the dogs, we are actually not even happy being so mean.

So my friend says, "Seek happiness, seek servanthood!" And I cannot agree more with him.

Woof Woof!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

- Notrumi Embun, 22nd June 2014

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

HAPPINESS & THE SWEETNESS OF SERVANTHOOD -being a slave to God all-Eternal vs being a slave to logos

Happiness & the Sweetness of Servanthood
Why pursue happiness,
When happiness itself will pursue you
If you devote yourself to
The sweetness of servanthood?
.......................

Slave to the Logos. I have been selling myself short, sunshine. The fool that I am, to be hoodwinked by this world, and by the wasteful consumer society that we have become. To become a slave to the logos, brands, trends, fads, and the illusion of human progress. 

A very, very smart lady who has written a best-selling book on
advertising and consumerism. Worth a read, I reckon.

The Meaning of Happiness. So we seek happiness by buying whatever Madison Avenue advertising companies are selling, and by voting whatever faddish trends are being promoted by politicians. But what is the happiness we find? Is the happiness being sold by the corporations and politicians permanent and completely fulfilling? Or is it really a temporary form of self gratification?

As one servant to another, help me...

Transient Nature. By the nature of everything conceived in Creation, it is all transient. So your feeling of joy at getting the latest iPhone, or satisfaction by voting in the most attractive candidate into office are both transient, temporary emotions. 

In this World and in the Hereafter. If we seek contentment (as opposed to gratification), it is useless to try and plant our hopes on our turbulent emotions and feelings. For they rise and ebb according to our circumstances at any given moment. That is why, our Beloved Prophet Muhammad (saws) has brought the ideal of servanthood into our central core of living - servanthood to humanity, animals, the natural world and ultimately, to our One Creator, God.

As a typical consumer, I am greatly distracted from servanthood by my own selfish need for gratification. But then, I am not the sort to leave 'civilization' and bunker down in some cave up some lonely mountain. So a sense of proportions and balance must be achieved. This, I cannot do alone...

Help me and pray for me always, sunshine. I am in need of your good wishes and good examples.

I ask this of you, as one servant to another...

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Inner Archery - where the arrow lands is already written by God Almighty even before we drew the bowstring and released the arrow

Inner Archery
I found myself at the archery field
Sending arrows on their way,
I found myself standing on the grass
Still wet with morning dew,
As the slumbering Earth
Awakes with power
For a new day,
Oh my friend, I wondered...
Where oh where are you!?

I found myself in the shaft,
In a quiver of arrows,
In their uncertain flight
To Hu knows where,
For once my part is done
And I have set the arrow free,
Wherever it lands 
Is where my Lord
Wants it to be,

I found myself in the company of a mad man,

Who insists that we were there that day,

Remaining steadfast on the Hill of Uhud,

And thus, I found myself and I found God,

Faithful to the last, standing amongst the good.

....................

The Mystery of the Missing Toilet. After archery yesterday morning, I rushed into my house, leaving the bow and arrows in the car, distracted as I was by an urgent need to relieve my bladder. So much so that I did not even take off my sunglasses. I sped past my father still having breakfast at the dining area and entered the bathroom, not even pausing to turn on the bathroom lights. "Damn, it is dark!", I remember thinking to myself, "So dark that I could not even see the toilet!" And with that I deposited myself on a non-existent toilet and painfully onto the hard tiled floor. My coccyx (the tail end of the spine) is still sore, and thus you find me in my bedroom this morning and not shooting arrows. Still resting after the unfortunate accident.

It appears that my dad is having the toilet replaced, and the contractor has removed the toilet earlier yesterday morning. Of course, I don't blame anyone. No one could have imagined anyone so dumb so as to not notice a missing toilet. He he he.

But at least I am finally going to finish this posting (although sitting slightly awkwardly), thus you will know that I am still very much alive after days and days of no new postings in the almanac. There is always a silver lining in any grey cloud, yes?

Meant to be. I wish I did not fall in the bathroom yesterday. But it was meant to happen. Just like where the arrow lands is already written by Allah (swt) before we even drew the bowstring and released the arrow. And I hope I am accepting both fates with a light heart and loving acceptance of His plan. I am saying this because it is always a struggle when you have to sit with a sore buttocks and type this out. *Ouch!*

He he he.

Have a lovely day, sunshine. May Allah (swt) bless you and may the Prophet Muhammad (saws) support you in all your endeavours in life and love.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

BEAUTY . MUSIC . GENEROSITY OF SPIRIT - following the Scent of the Sunnah

What Innovation?

There is no innovation in worship,

There is no innovation in music,

So sing!

Dance!

Jump!

Move you hands!

Move your legs!

Sway and whirl!

Do not let polite society

Writhing in some obscure regret

For some ancient sin not of their making

Dampen your expressions of love

In the prison of their posturing!

.................................   

I am getting old. Too old of a dog to be chained to pretensions and acquired postures of piety. Let me free, and let me sniff out the trail through the witch's forest and find the Divine Presence. Tucked away in some sinner's covert sorrow or a street-walker's hidden tears. 

I love beauty. And I love beautiful things. The high minarets and the palatial domes draws our eyes up, higher and higher to the sky and beyond. "Look unto us, o' Man!", the celestial heavens seem to speak to us at night... "How small and petty you appear to be." , they abjure us. "But remember your smallness, for therein is the sign of your nobility.", as they point us towards submission and total servanthood to God, our common Creator. 

I love music. And I am taught by a gentle, sensitive spirit to love music. And once there was a time, when saintly speech, beauty and music seem to work hand in hand. Connecting humanity, through all shades of creed, race, nationality and colour.

Music. Beauty. Generosity of Spirit. These are the virtues that give me the greatest succour in these strange days of ours where wealth, hubris and hate has possessed a large swath of mankind. So if you find me with my eyes closed during the daytime, do not think I am asleep. I am listening to the symphony of love, I am walking through the temples of beauty, following an enchanting scent. The scent that is the words, the life and the wisdom of Allah's (swt) Mercy to all the Worlds, Muhammad Sayyidina Miftahul Jannat (saws) . 

You have been there, sunshine. I have seen you. 

Hey! Hey! Let me in! You are my heart and I demand to be let in!
Key? What key? What in God's name are you talking about!?

We are taught that to gain entry into our own hearts, and into the heart of our heart, we shall need a key. The Sayyidina Miftahul Jannat, the Key to the Garden, that being none other than the one most honoured, yet most humble of all His Creation, the Prophet Muhammad Habibullah (saws).

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place

Love will show the Way

DRESSED FOR THE MERCY OCEANS - the ego, pious fools and sinners

Dressed for the Mercy Oceans

It is best to dress less 

For a swim in the Mercy Oceans.

So leave your pantaloons of presumptions,

Take off your turban of knowledge,

Unbuckle your belt of pretensions,

Drop your robes of speculations

On the Mercy Oceans' sandy beach,

And leave your veneer of piety

Along with the rest 

Of the disguises

That you have

Gained

Through

All your years of study,

Then follow me,

Unmasked as you truly are,

A journeyman, a sinner.

After all, think about it...

What use for anyone is the Mercy Oceans

If not for Mercy's dispensation?

And who is the guest of the Forgiver

If not for us, the sinners

Seeking to be forgiven?

.........................

Naked before Mercy. Shed what you think you know. Dispense with the dress of knowledge and enter the Ocean of Knowledge untouched as a newborn. In the realm of Mercy, there is nothing you can hide, for why would you want to hide what you need cleansing and redemption of? And really, who are we trying to kid? ... as if God doesn't know already all our misdeeds and miscalculations, all our secret pacts with our ego as we excuse and justify our selfish wants.

It is not easy, this thing we are talking about. In a way, it would be easier for us to peel away our skin then to peel away the layers of hubris that make up what we are. Were it as simple as undressing, you would see a lot more people in society, walking in public, dressed as required by Adab (good manners) but bare naked of their egos... 

Good Intentions. The truth is that the human ego was created by God to be very durable, and this world was created perfectly for the ego. In our little triumphs, our ego extols our own successes, while in failures, our ego blames fate or some convenient others. And greater is the tribulations for those who seek to do good, rather than be a channel for good - It is a fine but important distinction, and graphically described in the famous phrase - "The road to hell is paved with good intentions", and "May God save us from pious fools." Such is our end, when our ego, disguised as righteousness, hijacks our life and what little good that we hope to achieve. May Allah (s.w.t.) save us from our own self-deception!

Submission to the True Good that is the True God. The road to the Mercy Oceans is one paved with submission. For we have set aside the cloak of our own presumption of knowing anything at all. It is not good intentions that drive us to seek the Mercy Oceans. It is actually necessity, our thirst for comfort and assurance, our hunger for understanding and forgiveness that compels us towards its divine waters. And good intentions? Just like our egos, we must forsake our petty good intentions, and give goodness its due to the True Origin and Dispenser of Goodness, Allah (s.w.t.) and His own anointed Mercy to all the Worlds, Muhammad Habibullah (s.a.w.s.).  

And We have not sent you, (o' Muhammad), except as a mercy to the worlds(Quran 21:107)

The delicate questions of our ego, good intentions and submission are all difficult propositions to deal with even for the most saintly ones among us. But God knows us in our best and in our worst. And I think God is only asking that we try. And beyond our faulty and inconsistent efforts for God and His Goodness, ...is His Mercy.

Which brings us back to the Mercy Oceans.

Care for a swim, sunshine?

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

AM I NOT YOUR LORD? - life is the act of remembering our answer to the question

And (remember) when thy Lord brought forth from the Children of Adam, from their reins, their seed, and made them testify of themselves, (saying): Am I not your Lord? They said: Yea, verily. We testify. (That was) lest ye should say at the Day of Resurrection: Lo! of this we were unaware; (Quran 7:172, Marmaduke Pickthall)

How shall we answer Him? When the Lord asks all of mankind, yet to be born from Adam and Eve, "Am I not your Lord"? (Alastu bi Rabbikum?) It is a matter of greatest significance, but not as how we mortal deign to interpret. When the Lord says something, it is not for that one particular moment, but for all moments from the beginning of time to the furthest reaches of eternity. Thus, it is not a past matter, but a present and real question to all of us today, to you and me and the cat named Moses... "Am I not our Lord?" How shall we answer him?

In the holy Quran, all the souls replied, "Yea, verily. We testify!" So we have indeed all replied thus, affirming the Oneness of God, and the Oneness of our One Creator. 

What is He saying in His asking? When the Lord asks the question, "Am I not your Lord?" it is not merely to unequivocally confirm His Eternal sovereignty over all creation, His unparalleled dominance over all things, His unimaginable power and righteousness over all thoughts, deeds and words of humanity. Above all, it is the Divine Confirmation of His Mercy, Love and Compassion...

Alastu bi Rabbikum?

Am I not your Lord?

Will you not accept what gifts

I have planned and stored for your future?

Lo, you have no capacity to imagine My gifts!

Am I not your Lord?

Will you not accept My embrace

Within which no harm can come to you,

Through which you may find all cures for your illnesses,

All knowledge to amend your ignorance,

All good and beautiful manners to correct

The feral purpose and selfishness of your ego?

Am I not your Lord?

Will you not see Me as the Perfection of all perfections,

The unreachable beauty surpassing all beauties created,

The Truth all-high and all-forgiving above all truths,

The One, Most worthy to be sought after?

Am I not your Lord?

And did I not create you and know you best?

Why would you turn to anything less than Me?

When I am the end of all your thoughts and actions,

I am the settler of all plans and conjecture,

And I am the Happiness surpassing all happiness

Ever experienced through the passing of time.

............................

All my life, I am trying to give the best answer, that which my soul has already given. For I wish to confirm my servanthood to Him, for the Gate of His Divine Pleasure to open, through which oceans upon oceans of endless knowledge, forgiveness, love and mercy awaits us all. So life is simply the act of remembrance - Remembering our answer to our Lord.

And when we do remember? Then, all our burden becomes the Lord's burden,
All our hopes become the Lord's hope, and there is naught greater
than He, our One Lord, our One Love. He who settles the
measure of all goodness for all humanity.

And verily, there is not greater guide to the Door of Remembrance that Saydeena Muhammad Habbibullah s.a.w.s.

May our Lord bless us, and keep us always, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Rose, The Dervish and the Sea - be a servant and master this world

Master this World

In the Rose of Love,

Between its many-coloured petals,

A dervish whirls,

In the Sea of Mercy,

Beneath the Sky of Knowledge,

There hides a pearl.

Look for it!

Be a good servant

And master this world.

..........................

This world is the world of the ego. And (so I am told) the more you chase it, the less you will gain out of it. And if you run away from the world, it will come chasing after you, offering you its wealth and rich prizes! And this contradictory nature continues in your function of a servant - for the best of masters is the very best of servants of God, His Beloved Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) and of all humanity and created things.

We serve the Masters (Shaykhs and Murshids of the Sufi path)? Well, in a manner of speaking. But in truth what can we offer such illuminated souls? They are already happy, happy with God, happy with the Prophet, happy with the Saints of the before, the now and the future. Nay, while we may affect some servanthood towards the Masters, the truth is it is the Masters who serve and support us... for the love and abiding affection to their Most Beloved Master, Muhammad (s.a.w.s.).

Young men and women. In the spring of their lives often speak of love.
But if you wish to learn of real love... there is no better way
than here. MasyaAllah...

Bless you, sunshine. May you have a beautiful day in servanthood to Truth, Love and Mercy.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

PLAYGROUND OF THE SOUL - chance encounter with a servant of Peace

Playground of the Soul

This is not just a mosque,

This is no mere house of worship...

This is a playground of the soul,

A garden of the spirit

To seed and till your happiness...

This is where you will see flowers

Rise, bloom and fall

In all hours of the day, 

Enchanted by the Lord's heavenly call.

..............................

Last night, as I was making my way to intercept young Ustaz Malik (the man with the golden voice), I was suddenly waylaid by an elderly gentleman. He introduced himself as Abdul Salam (Servant (Abdul) of He Who is the Source of Peace, Safety and Perfection (Salam, one of the Divine Names of God)). 

Being the forgetful dummy that I am, I cannot recall his face although he says that he has seen me around our neighbourhood. When we embraced I felt a burning warmth when his cheek touched mine. In my fanciful retrospection, I felt that it was the warmth of love.

So nothing to report but the chance meeting with kindly affectionate strangers in the Playground of the Soul. 

Have a lovely day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Upon the Wings of Ilmu & Adab - knowledge, good manners and the dangers of hubris

Ilmu & Adab

O' seekers,

To fly to the divine presence,

You need a pair of wings,

The wing of Ilmu (Knowledge)

And the wing of Adab (Good Manners).

In the course of human history

There is no more tragic event

Than when humanity has gained Knowledge

But has left Good Manners far behind.

................................

Whatever enlightenment that you have acquired, religious knowledge, metaphysical knowledge, knowledge of the self, knowledge of people and their history, knowledge of the sciences - physics, biology or chemistry, knowledge of the DNA, knowledge of the Atom... all knowledge comes with its appropriate code of courtly manners and courtesies (Adab).

A significant part of the Western civilization hinges upon the Age of Enlightenment that began in France and spread to the rest of Europe, then the world over through conquest and colonialism. Alas, while bringing some good to the people, it is probably the most severe example where knowledge has ran away from good manners. It is an illness that  can be remedied, but if the body politic cannot even see that it is unwell, how may the patient be treated? It is now a global problem.

Great Ilmu without great Adab is the greatest danger facing humanity. The devil himself is intelligent and acquired an angel's trove of physical and metaphysical knowledge, but alas, he gained not enough good manners to keep him safe. He lost himself to hubris, which is born whenever knowledge is attained without the appropriate good manners. 

Have a thoughtful day, sunshine. May we learn to bear both the knowledge and the manners appropriate to our station before God and the Prophet (s.a.w.s.). I will not say that is is easy, but...

Knowledge? They will see your habits and manners, then choose for you
the appropriate knowledge that you may carry. This is the way of the Path,
and it is the safest and best way, not merely upon the wings of ilmu and adab,
but upon the wings of love and mercy. InsyaAllah...  

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Jack of all trades, Master of none - knowledge and the path of servanthood

1.      The nature of knowledge

All knowledge is contained

In the Ocean of the Lord,

And if perchance, I appear

To name different types of knowledge,

Know that it is merely because

I have taken a cup from the Ocean,

And man, in their foolishness,

Keep asking me,

“What are you talking about?!”

......................

Universities have deigned to separate knowledge between faculties - the faculties of medicine, physics, biology, history, law, social sciences, astronomy... and the list goes on and on. And further out into society, we are wont to divide between the physical and the spiritual, the material and the metaphysical.

I suppose it is part of the continuing specialization of mankind's knowledge, and the accepted rule that we cannot be a jack of all trades and a master of none. We must be a master of something. We have to master something...

Right?

The answer is blowing in the wind, as an ancient friend tells me...

Servanthood

To be a master 

Is to be a servant

To acquire knowledge

Is to dispossess yourself of yourself

To understand something

Is to become nothing,

Not even a leaf

Blowing in the wind,

A story with no beginning

With no known ending.

.................

Hehehe. Life is full of irony sometimes. 

Have a lovely day, sunshine. May your path take you to the honour of servanthood, an award granted to you that is higher than the highest PHDs available in the divided faculties of our limited human knowledge. For that little prize comes from the treasure trove of the Divine Presence itself.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Ego and the Nature of Knowledge & Ignorance - the sinner is thinkin'... hmm...

Knowledge & Ignorance, Ego and Humility

Man is a creature made up of 

What he knows and 

What he doesn't know,

Man is a sum of 

All his knowledge and

All his ignorance,

But Man's ego can turn the most learned man

Into a tyrant and a despot, changing his pool of knowledge 

Into a hateful black miasma from where his most

Wicked thoughts, words and deeds arise from.

And Man's ego can turn the chasm of ignorance

Into a monstrous mountain blocking his path, 

A dark storm cloud shadowing his horizon,

Darkening his heart and his love,

So you see...

Ego will always spoil his life,

But humility? Humility will save Man

Whether he be foolish or wise.

.....................................

The ego is not a simple creature. It is attuned to the very physical aspect of your existence, and though it is not spiritual in nature, the human ego is more adaptable than the chameleon to suit your changing spiritual make-up. The ego sits with the kings on their gilded thrones, manages the biggest corporations in the boards of directors, it runs on all fours with the beggars of the alleyways, it is in the words of the religious clerics, it sleeps with the most virtuous man and wakes up in the morning with the most despairing sinners of this world. 

Facing up to your vices and bad habits is liable to make you hate yourself.
And it can turn the most mentally balanced man into a schizophrenic.
But you cannot hate yourself, nor have two of you...
After all, you have only one heart.

Unlearning (your bad habits) is a journey of a lifetime. For myself, I have found that knowledge has brought great happiness to me. But some knowledge has also brought great despair, for I have, in my life, learned of things which I should have stayed away from, things which do not benefit my life one bit. And if learning is a journey of a lifetime (as many pundits say), then the unlearning of some knowledge is also a journey of a lifetime. You know... the bad habits and vices sinners like myself have picked up along our raggedy, stumbling path through life. The ego and our nafs (our base desires) work hand in hand to persuade us, "Come on, Taufiq! Everyone does it! You can handle it..."

Yeah. Right.

Far or near... Alive or dead... it matters not
when Love is your Sovereign Lord.

Friends with Benefits. Alone we would be crushed by our ego. That is why, if you are blessed to have kindly friends, patient and understanding parents and relatives, you cannot but be humbled by the humility displayed by such people. So even if you are a damn sinner like myself, you have guides that can help you deal with your ego (and nafs). And of course, if your life is blessed with a saint, a master who loves and attends to you however physically far or near you may be to him, then you really have a lot to be thankful to God for.

Have a good Sunday, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

It is Okay to be Naive - bowing before the Greatest Good and the Greatest Truth

Whoever said that a throne of melted-down swords would be comfortable?
My hernia is killing me!

18. Kingly glory, kingly despair

If everyone are kings,

There are, in truth, no kings,

But slaves.

Kings craving queens greedy

And kingdom castles fair,

Ignorant that,

In kingly glory

Is crowned

Kingly despair.

...................

Game of Thrones. Poor Ned Stark. If you are a loyal fan of the TV fantasy mini-series 'The Game of Thrones' you would see plentiful reasons why being a King or a Lord or a Baron would suck big time. Oh yes, you will get to lord over your peasants and minions, but it is only until another King, Lord or Baron peers across the garden fence and wonders, "Saaay... them land and riches look mighty good to me."

The Young Turks. There are not many Kings, Lords or Barons nowadays in the world. Now there is Democracy which purports to be the best solution for a human society. And there is no more iconic symbol of Democracy than the U.S. of A. But any system is only as good as the people who works it. I learn a lot about America and its politics from the Young Turks channel on YouTube. It is the biggest internet news site with millions of hits.

Atheism and Hubris. It is also an atheist-centric show, and oh how they poke fun of many religions, mainly Christianity with Islam coming a close second. But they are not rabid religion-haters, although I guess it is hard for them sometimes to maintain a balanced view towards religion. To be fair, they do try to filter between the 'good' Christian teachings and the 'bad' Christian teachings. Same thing goes to Islam, Hinduism and other religions of the world. At other times, the condescending tone of 'we know better' comes out into the open, and I just sigh a little.

Democracy in the U.S. of A. I am talking about the Young Turks again (See some earlier postings like 'The West and the Irrationality of Rationalism" and "The Young Turks and the Miracles") because in a recent video upload, Cenk (the big boss of the TYT) was despairing on camera about the state of American democracy because of the U.S. track records on torture. And how many people under the previous Bush administration who authorised water-boarding, torture and 'rendition flights' are happily walking freely on the streets of America - simply because President A-Change-You-Can-Believe-In Obama wants to look forward and not backwards. But lastly, Cenk admitted that he still believes in the idea of America, a liberal, progressive and strong democracy, even if people would call him naive. See video link below.

. How are we any different? Well, that is the same view all believers in all religion have. There will always be bad apples in the barrel, but we still believe in the Barrel of God. And we still believe in the holy scriptures brought down by His Prophets, though there may be some who misunderstand or places different priorities in the faith to the point that their actions, meant to 'defend the faith' ultimately destroys their own faith. Why is religion perceived in any different way? Exchange the word 'idea' with 'religion' and it turns out that we are all the same, whether you believe in God or you don't. .

We all have our share of bad apples. How are you any different from us?

. I don't want to be a democrat, and I don't want to be a King. I just wanna be me, a naive and error-prone man stumbling his way towards some meaningful understanding and experience of servanthood, to God and to Mankind. This is what Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) is teaching us.

So it is okay to be naive for we are all weak servants to the Splendid Truth of God - Love, Beauty, Compassion and Mercy.

Have a lovely day, sunshine. However naive!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way